Looking Back: 5/27

Published: Monday, May 27, 2013 at 3:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Sunday, May 26, 2013 at 11:33 p.m.

50 years ago this week

The University of Alabama established an identification center at Northington to issue credentials to incoming students and faculty and other employees. Dr. C.T. Sharpton, vice president for student affairs, explained the identification system and told the students that the university had been directed to admit a black student for the summer session, prompting the establishing of the identification center and other rules for incoming students.

The Tuscaloosa Medical Society adopted a resolution backing the University of Alabama board of trustees and urging law and order at the University of Alabama during the summer.

The 110-year-old Spring Hill Methodist Church was struck by lightning and destroyed by the resulting fire.

Mrs. George Harris Searcy died at 79; her husband, a Tuscaloosa physician, died in 1935.

A petition with 212 signatures of prominent Tuscaloosans was sent to Gov. George C. Wallace calling on him to continue the fight for segregation.

The Tuscaloosa County grand jury called for law and order and urged all citizens to stay away from the University of Alabama campus during the forthcoming admission of a black student.

The leader of the Ku Klux Klan, Imperial Wizard Robert Shelton said the Klan stood behind Gov. George Wallace and that the Klan has no intention of bringing about any form of violence on the campus or anywhere else in connection with this move to desegregate the University of Alabama.

Documents showing Tuscaloosa County as it was in 1963 and previously were placed in a copper box that would be placed in the cornerstone of the new county courthouse and jail during a ceremony.

25 years ago this week

Barbara Berry Fowler was found guilty of murder by a Fayette County Circuit Court jury in the 1987 slaying of her husband, Stephen Fowler, after one of the longest and most sensational trials in the city’s history. She was sentenced to life in prison; her attorney said he expected to file for a new trial.

Tuscaloosa County’s Litter Control Task Force asked the three local governments to adopt a set of sweeping recommendations against littering. Fines for littering would be increased, more officials would be watching for the litterer and those convicted could find themselves picking up trash in public.

Two Holt men, Lovell Evans and Frank Roshell, were honored when the park they had helped to establish in Holt was named the Evans-Roshell Park.

10 years ago this week

Greensboro was poised to become the state’s first municipality to build and operate its own broadband telecommunications network and one of only a handful in the country to use fiber-to-the-home technology. City officials announced that they had created the city-owned Greensboro Telecommunications Utility, which would operate a cable, Internet, phone and home security optical fiber network for Greensboro’s 3,500 residents.

The 169-year-old University Club was undergoing a $3 million renovation.

The pool in A. L. Freeman Park would remain dry another summer as contract issues delayed its completion.

Civil engineer Rickey Harrison, whose work improved the look of West Alabama, died at 54.

Gainesville Mayor Carrie Fulghum was under scrutiny for her handling of stray dogs that she said were overtaking her town. She paid a resident $320 to transport the dogs out of town and leave them in a rural area.

Five years ago this week

Incumbent Tuscaloosa County Commissioner for District 4, Reginald Murray, would be opposed by James Taggart, a political newcomer, in the November election.

Mayor Walt Maddox wanted the new Publix shopping center on Alabama Highway 69 South annexed into Tuscaloosa. The site was in the city police jurisdiction and could access city sewer without being in the city, but if it remained outside the city, the city could lose tax revenue.

Tuscaloosa City Council President Harrison Taylor, a finance committee member, wanted a pay increase for council members for the next term. At that time, Council members made $20,000 and the president $26,000. Taylor said this would be only the third time the pay has been raised since the council began in 1985.

The antiquated structure known as the Spiller Building faced demolition after standing in downtown Tuscaloosa since 1903. The building was owned by Christ Episcopal Church, whose facilities committee, faced with high refurbishment and maintenance costs and growing safety hazards, voted to demolish the historic building and reclaim the land as green space.

The university did not renew the lease of Cheap Shots, a bar on the Strip, because the owners did not keep up their space.

Third grade Greensboro West Elementary school student, Kevin Lomax, was the National Handwriting Champion for third-graders across the country. Lomax won a Nintendo DS game package and a $500 savings bond in addition to a medal and certificate. Lomax said “G” was the hardest letter to write in cursive.

Planner Philip Walker was completing the eighth plan for Northport’s riverfront since 1990.

After nearly a four-month delay, the trial of the former head of the Alabama Fire College was set to begin. Slated for mid-February, William Langston’s trial was moved after he fell down a set of stairs and broke his arm two days before the trial was to begin. Langston was charged with providing bogus jobs and raises for friends, diverting more than $500,000 paid by the Alabama Poison Center to the Fire College’s private foundation, helping former state Rep. Bryant Melton divert $85,000 in grants to the Fire College Foundation for Melton’s personal use, diverting nearly $100,000 to pay for Shelton State Community College President Rick Rogers’ house and setting up a fake contract for a computer software firm that funneled $92,500 to former Fire College commissioner Robert Nix and setting up a fake $126,500 job for him at the Alabama Poison Center.

One year ago this week

Two Tuscaloosa houses were placed on this year’s Places in Peril list. One was the house at 1 Woods Manor, one of the works of the noted architect Don Buel Schuyler who was an apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright and who also designed the Queen City Pool and Bathhouse. The other at 27 Parkview Drive, across from Central High School, was one of a series of modest manufactured homes stamped out in assembly-line fashion for affordable post-World War II housing. Livingston’s Lakewood, a circa 1840 cottage was also listed.

The city council approved plans for a mixed use development to replace Broad Street Apartments near 20th Street and University Boulevard. The plans called for three retail business on the bottom flour and apartment space on the top three floors.

The U.S. Postal Service post office in the University of Alabama’s Ferguson Center would close at the end of the next school year. The university would operate its own mail service beginning in August of 2013.

Albert Dawson Christian Sr., former chairman of the Tuscaloosa County Board of Education and former Northport City Councilman, died at 95. Christian was the owner of Union Furniture in Tuscaloosa.

<p class="bold allcaps">50 years ago this week</p>
<p>The University of Alabama established an identification center at Northington to issue credentials to incoming students and faculty and other employees. Dr. C.T. Sharpton, vice president for student affairs, explained the identification system and told the students that the university had been directed to admit a black student for the summer session, prompting the establishing of the identification center and other rules for incoming students.</p><p>The Tuscaloosa Medical Society adopted a resolution backing the University of Alabama board of trustees and urging law and order at the University of Alabama during the summer.</p><p>The 110-year-old Spring Hill Methodist Church was struck by lightning and destroyed by the resulting fire.</p><p>Mrs. George Harris Searcy died at 79; her husband, a Tuscaloosa physician, died in 1935.</p><p>A petition with 212 signatures of prominent Tuscaloosans was sent to Gov. George C. Wallace calling on him to continue the fight for segregation.</p><p>The Tuscaloosa County grand jury called for law and order and urged all citizens to stay away from the University of Alabama campus during the forthcoming admission of a black student.</p><p>The leader of the Ku Klux Klan, Imperial Wizard Robert Shelton said the Klan stood behind Gov. George Wallace and that the Klan has no intention of bringing about any form of violence on the campus or anywhere else in connection with this move to desegregate the University of Alabama.</p><p>Documents showing Tuscaloosa County as it was in 1963 and previously were placed in a copper box that would be placed in the cornerstone of the new county courthouse and jail during a ceremony.</p><h3>25 years ago this week</h3>
<p>Barbara Berry Fowler was found guilty of murder by a Fayette County Circuit Court jury in the 1987 slaying of her husband, Stephen Fowler, after one of the longest and most sensational trials in the city's history. She was sentenced to life in prison; her attorney said he expected to file for a new trial.</p><p>Tuscaloosa County's Litter Control Task Force asked the three local governments to adopt a set of sweeping recommendations against littering. Fines for littering would be increased, more officials would be watching for the litterer and those convicted could find themselves picking up trash in public.</p><p>Two Holt men, Lovell Evans and Frank Roshell, were honored when the park they had helped to establish in Holt was named the Evans-Roshell Park.</p><h3>10 years ago this week</h3>
<p>Greensboro was poised to become the state's first municipality to build and operate its own broadband telecommunications network and one of only a handful in the country to use fiber-to-the-home technology. City officials announced that they had created the city-owned Greensboro Telecommunications Utility, which would operate a cable, Internet, phone and home security optical fiber network for Greensboro's 3,500 residents.</p><p>The 169-year-old University Club was undergoing a $3 million renovation.</p><p>The pool in A. L. Freeman Park would remain dry another summer as contract issues delayed its completion.</p><p>Civil engineer Rickey Harrison, whose work improved the look of West Alabama, died at 54.</p><p>Gainesville Mayor Carrie Fulghum was under scrutiny for her handling of stray dogs that she said were overtaking her town. She paid a resident $320 to transport the dogs out of town and leave them in a rural area.</p><h3>Five years ago this week</h3>
<p>Incumbent Tuscaloosa County Commissioner for District 4, Reginald Murray, would be opposed by James Taggart, a political newcomer, in the November election.</p><p>Mayor Walt Maddox wanted the new Publix shopping center on Alabama Highway 69 South annexed into Tuscaloosa. The site was in the city police jurisdiction and could access city sewer without being in the city, but if it remained outside the city, the city could lose tax revenue.</p><p>Tuscaloosa City Council President Harrison Taylor, a finance committee member, wanted a pay increase for council members for the next term. At that time, Council members made $20,000 and the president $26,000. Taylor said this would be only the third time the pay has been raised since the council began in 1985. </p><p>The antiquated structure known as the Spiller Building faced demolition after standing in downtown Tuscaloosa since 1903. The building was owned by Christ Episcopal Church, whose facilities committee, faced with high refurbishment and maintenance costs and growing safety hazards, voted to demolish the historic building and reclaim the land as green space.</p><p>The university did not renew the lease of Cheap Shots, a bar on the Strip, because the owners did not keep up their space.</p><p>Third grade Greensboro West Elementary school student, Kevin Lomax, was the National Handwriting Champion for third-graders across the country. Lomax won a Nintendo DS game package and a $500 savings bond in addition to a medal and certificate. Lomax said “G” was the hardest letter to write in cursive.</p><p>Planner Philip Walker was completing the eighth plan for Northport's riverfront since 1990. </p><p>After nearly a four-month delay, the trial of the former head of the Alabama Fire College was set to begin. Slated for mid-February, William Langston's trial was moved after he fell down a set of stairs and broke his arm two days before the trial was to begin. Langston was charged with providing bogus jobs and raises for friends, diverting more than $500,000 paid by the Alabama Poison Center to the Fire College's private foundation, helping former state Rep. Bryant Melton divert $85,000 in grants to the Fire College Foundation for Melton's personal use, diverting nearly $100,000 to pay for Shelton State Community College President Rick Rogers' house and setting up a fake contract for a computer software firm that funneled $92,500 to former Fire College commissioner Robert Nix and setting up a fake $126,500 job for him at the Alabama Poison Center.</p><h3>One year ago this week</h3>
<p>Two Tuscaloosa houses were placed on this year's Places in Peril list. One was the house at 1 Woods Manor, one of the works of the noted architect Don Buel Schuyler who was an apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright and who also designed the Queen City Pool and Bathhouse. The other at 27 Parkview Drive, across from Central High School, was one of a series of modest manufactured homes stamped out in assembly-line fashion for affordable post-World War II housing. Livingston's Lakewood, a circa 1840 cottage was also listed.</p><p>The city council approved plans for a mixed use development to replace Broad Street Apartments near 20th Street and University Boulevard. The plans called for three retail business on the bottom flour and apartment space on the top three floors.</p><p>The U.S. Postal Service post office in the University of Alabama's Ferguson Center would close at the end of the next school year. The university would operate its own mail service beginning in August of 2013.</p><p>Albert Dawson Christian Sr., former chairman of the Tuscaloosa County Board of Education and former Northport City Councilman, died at 95. Christian was the owner of Union Furniture in Tuscaloosa.</p><p>Compiled by retired News librarian Betty Slowe.</p>